Methanol Synthesis with Steel-Mill Gases: Simulation and Practical Testing of Selected Gas Utilization Scenarios

The utilization of CO2-containing steel-mill gases for synthesis of methanol was investigated. Four different scenarios with syngas derived from steel-mill gases were considered. A process model for an industrial methanol production including gas recirculation was applied to provide realistic conditions for catalyst performance tests. A long-term test series was performed in a close-to-practice setup to demonstrate the stability of the catalyst. In addition, the experimental results were used to discuss the quality of the simulation results. Kinetic parameters of the reactor model were fitted. A comparison of two different kinetic approaches and the experimental results revealed which approach better fits CO-rich or CO2-rich steel-mill gases.